Devils lose playoff opener on goal with 23.1 seconds left

ALBANY — Ben Chairot scored on a slap shot from the right point with 23.1 seconds remaining to give the St. John’s IceCaps a 2-1 victory over the Albany Devils in the opening game of their playoff series in front of 6,572 at Times Union Center.

Game 2 of the best-of-5 series is Saturday night in Albany. The remaining games will be played next week in Newfoundland.

The announced attendance, which was a total of tickets distributed, was the largest for an AHL playoff game in Albany since Game 1 of the 1995 Calder Cup finals (7,985).

Joe Whitney tied the score for Albany on a power play at 2:13 of the second. He received a pass from defenceman Jon Merrill and ripped a wrist shot from the slot area past the stick of IceCaps goaltender Michael Hutchinson.

The IceCaps got on the board 4:29 into the game with both teams down one skater. Jerome Samson, who played three AHL seasons in Albany, stole the puck behind the net and fed Eric O’Dell, who beat Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid between his pads.

Entertaining game tonight. Slight edge in play to St. John’s as they possessed the puck more than Albany. Kincaid played ok, but looked shaky on the two he gave up. I would be surprised if he makes the NJ roster next season. Even with his improved play this year, I find him hard to trust in net.
Great crowd tonight. Actual attendance not that far from announced number in my estimation. I heard they are expecting more tomorrow night – possibly our last at home. Hopefully we can leave much happier than tonight. Great to have playoff hockey once again.

That announced number sounds fair to me also. There was a wait leaving, lines on the concourse, and tough finding parking on the street. A few of us said it seemed like the 90s actually. Good job by the front office getting those seats filled! Great job actually.

I’m guessing Wedgewood will be in net tomorrow. Two goals the former Union guy would like to have back….. Other than those 10 seconds or so, a very even and entertaining game. I wish the Devils had some guys to calm Cormier and a couple others down….playoff hockey at it’s best.

I’ve also heard a lot of talk about tomorrow’s game being better attended also, sounds like the place to be!

I believe you’ll see Kinkaid in Game 2. Game-winning goal was a knuckler, and he had lost his stick. First goal was off a turnover. I thought he played well. He’d like to have had his stick on the last goal. It probably would have made a difference.

Ditto on the front office. After years of poor early-round playoff crowds, the expectations weren’t high. The cheaper seats in the upper deck were a great idea. Now Devils fans have to hope they can take it beyond just two home playoff games.

Wow lol couldn’t believe the attendance was so good, proud of the Capital Region hockey fans :) let’s get out there again Saturday night. Albany could end the season on some positives between playoff qualification and some good fan support. With Dave Andrews in the house the fan came out. Albany has been drawing good late season numbers. Let’s not send these men out without putting up some good fan support before heading off to the Maritimes!

I just got off the phone with some fans attneding tonight, and the Devils had distributed many more tickets (possibly several hundred or more from what we could figure) to charity groups and other organizations who had done charity work and I don’t believe that they were counted in the announced attendance. Even when those fans showed up with comps, the Devils were on the hook for the conrtibution to the playoff pool. So good for them for giving back to the community. I do like the term announced attendance better, but in this case I think that the two numbers are close enough to not raise any concern. The statment that it included all distributed tickets may be incorrect here. In this league, andything less than multiplying the actually head count by three is not newsworthy or woth mentioning.

From my vantage point, Kinkaid had made mistakes to set up the softish goals. On the first he lost the puck behind the net. The second he failed to cover a loose puck, lost his stick, never got over that fact, and went to get his stick while the d-man was shooting and the puck went in. It was pretty clear that he was very uncomfortable without the stick.

The refs were calling a much looser game, similiar to what’s happened in the NHL playoffs. While I prefer that style of play, I don’t see the point of calling all the little holds, interference, and pushes all year, then changing it up after several years of tightly called games- both regular season and playoff. It looked to me like the Devils should bring Matt Ruchty, Reid Simpson and Cale Hulse out of retirement.

I know that some haven’t been follow the AHL as long as I have, but I do remember clearly, like it was yesterday, Barry Melrose leading the Adirondack Red Wings up to “The Rock”, winning all four games, and returning the Calder Cup to Glens Falls.